Review: Passion Planner (2016 Limited Edition Paradise Blue)

When I made the choice to become an independent freelancer, I knew that I was going to need to work on how I handled time. In the weeks leading up to my last day at my full-time job, I was in something of a panic, downloading and deleting apps for health, time management, and water consumption (more on that last one in a future blog post!). I knew that I wouldn’t be a millionaire when I decided to write full-time, but that wasn’t the goal. What I wanted was financial and emotional stability, and to achieve that, I wanted to go in prepared.

There were only a few investments I could make going in, and I decided that one of them would focus on all of these problems. As if by chance, a friend retweeted a gorgeous image from Passion Planner just one week into my search, and I was instantly obsessed. The planner’s combination of time management and goal-making were exactly what I needed with the objectives that I’ve set before me. The 2016 Limited Edition Paradise Blue had just released not long before, and after a week or so of debating, I snatched it up.

The planner I bought is 8″x11″, goes for $39.99, and with shipping, it cost about $45 total. Right off the bat, I’ll get a tiny piece of critique out that I don’t really fault anyone for – on its way over, my Passion Planner may have been dropped, so the top left corner is a little crushed in these photos.

Paradise Blue 2016 Limited Edition

With that out of the way, I want to say that I LOVE this planner. I have achieved so much over the past month and I love the way that this planner educates on how to break down major goals into small, achievable steps. It breaks down all of your to-do’s by the hour so that you can slot your errands, deadlines and more into your weekly layout while managing your time efficiently. The planner is packed with great ways to motivate yourself, and has plenty of free pages for sketching something fun or creating weekly goal charts. It’s also got a back pocket, which I use to hold stickers, upcoming bills, and invoices.

The monthly layouts are easy to use and help you break down timely goals.

Keep bills and stickers in the back pocket.

Weekly quotes, motivational activities and positive reminders!

Weekly Layout

I’m a little new to this whole planner thing, so outside of a few cute stickers, I have a pretty simple set of pens and highlighters that I like to use:

I also grabbed these cute page markers from Daiso ($1.50) to mark my months, charts and reminders.

I like to use the open space every week to work out my budget, add reminders, and set weekly goals.

Overall, I’ve really enjoyed using my Passion Planner. The outer design is super gorgeous, and it contains everything I need to keep my daily work in order. I’d definitely recommend it for freelancers and students (they make a student calendar just for school years) or anyone who just needs a little more motivation in their lives.

1 Comment

I adore the Passion Planner I have, though I kind of wish I bought the smaller one now that I’m using it so much. I really need to get better at planning out my life, though. You can tell which weeks I had free time and which ones I didn’t. Some of my weeks are super decorated and others are nothing but black ink notes about tasks for work.